After that was sorted out, Tesla slapped a base price equivalent to around $121,000 on the Chinese Model S, a significant increase over the roughly $81,000 base price of an 85-kilowatt-hour car in the U.S. The difference is due to shipping fees and taxes.

Despite these teething problems, Tesla CEO Elon Musk believes China could be just as important for the company as the U.S. Tesla will have to get those navigation systems working first, though.